Using ForwardMX with Netlify is one of the original use cases that we built the service for.
In this knowledgebase article, we will go through the whole setup to use ForwardMX as your MX server and receive all your domains emails while using Netlify as DNS provider. Now let’s get started.
We assume you already have setup your domain with Netlify.
If that is not the case, check out this guide by Netlify.
1. Go to your DNS settings
Open Netlify and switch to the domain you want add ForwardMX to.
2. Add MX Records
On the DNS panel, click the "∨" dropdown and choose "Delete Record" for any existing MX records that may be configured on your domain.
You'll need the MX Records for your ForwardMX service, which you can find under "MX Records and Setup Instructions" in your ForwardMX account.
In the "Add new record" section, select MX, leave the name as "@", set the Value as "mx1.forwardmx.net" with Priority 10 and TTL of 3600, then click "Save".
@ means your domain's top level in Netlify's DNS configuration.
If you add any other value here, the email would be only working on a subdomain.
For example, if you enter www instead of @, it will be only be for emails sent to [email protected] which is probably not what you want.
Repeat that step for the second mail server record.
3. Configure the TXT record
Choose type "TXT" in the "Add new record" type dropdown, leave the name set to @ (unless you're configuring email on a subdomain) and the value:
"v=spf1 include:_spf.forwardmx.net -all"
Set the TTL to 3600, and then click "Save"
4. Done
If everything is right it should look something like this:
Now wait for DNS propagation for these changes, which can be as quick as 5 minutes and as long as 48 hours, and you are ready to receive emails on your Netlify domain through ForwardMX.
